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user228700
6:00 PM
Oooh, look what I found:
 
It's the angle the corresponding complex number makes to the positive x-axis in the complex plane. From that, it should be obvious that $n\pi$ corresponds to $\pm 1$
 
@PrathyushPoduval $\color{blue}{I\ got\ used}\ \color{fuchsia}{to\ doing\ this}\ \color{green}{too\ but\ I'm\ "Just}\ \color{orange}{too\ lazy\ to}\ \color{brown}{use\ it"}$ ;p
That took so long omg
 
user228700
@JohnRennie Wow, how I envy you!
 
@Blue I just want to get rid of it, but no-one seems interested even at £0.99
 
6:00 PM
@PrathyushPoduval Pretty good actually. They both went really well and I got to do some fun diff eqs and talk about series expansions n' stuff... :)
 
@CooperCape I can't bear to imagine :P
 
@Kaumudi.H I got the impression you were a skimbleshanks too ...
 
@CooperCape asked any physics stuff?
 
user228700
Skimbleshanks?!
 
@PrathyushPoduval That's what the diff eqs was on. Had to solve it for a mass on a spring... The classic $\frac{d^2x}{dt^2}=-\frac{kx}{m}$
 
6:02 PM
Guess,substitute, conquer
 
@Blue what
 
@Kaumudi.H Hmm, when I was a lad that was slang for someone skinny, but I've just Googled it to check and it appears to be a cat!
 
Then talked about series expansion of a ball rolling down a hill and how it approximates a simple harmonic oscillator...
 
@Kaumudi.H dabdabdab
 
It was good fun! :)
 
user228700
6:02 PM
@JohnRennie Exactly! x'D
 
Anonymous
@ooolb Zoom into the avatar
 
@CooperCape like how an ideal interview is supposed to be
 
@Kaumudi.H Oh well :-) Anyhow I had the impression you were skinny as well
 
user228700
Ah, anyway, yes, most people would classify me as skinny, I s'pose, but I could certainly look fitter. I am not skinny skinny.
 
@Blue that's not your shirt
 
6:03 PM
@PrathyushPoduval Yup... Kinda want to do another one ngl...
 
@Kaumudi.H Well me neither. My BMI is about 20 so it's spot on. But people tend to describe me as skinny.
 
@CooperCape nice thing to remember is everything approximates to shm,if you didn't know it
 
user228700
Ah, right :-)
 
@JohnRennie how old is your profile pic?
 
@ooolb about 20 years old :-)
 
6:04 PM
damn my mental image of you is a lie
 
user228700
I managed to find a relatively recent picture of his but even that turns out to be a few years old, no, @JohnR?
 
Anonymous
I widely vary between skinny and obese. I eat too much for a few months and then begin starving to repair myself.
 
@PrathyushPoduval (Quickly thinks of a way to be as facetious as possible). Uhmm... what about...
 
like those profs who have their 30 year old pics still up on the department website when you search their profile
 
I like to remain a man of mystery.
 
6:05 PM
Doctor Strange is pretty good. MCU is keeping up their shtick.
 
Nah I'm stuck
 
not all though
 
user228700
@Blue Dang, that doesn't seem a particularly healthy strategy...
 
I've got a really silly question ... what is the ionic strength of 0.01M HCl?
 
@CooperCape at stable equilibrium points only it's possible
 
6:06 PM
Is is 0.01 or 0.02?
 
Fair..
 
Assuming it's fully ionised.
 
Anonymous
@Kaumudi.H I know....trying to work on it. :/
 
Anonymous
I do exercise regularly nowadays...so that's a little improvement
 
user228700
That's good :-)
 
6:08 PM
so ur obese ???
 
Anonymous
At the moment I'm in between obese and skinny :P
 
@JohnRennie I'm around 17 BMI...
 
Anonymous
Mine is 25
 
doot doot
 
Well, unless I've somehow had a massive weight gain in the past couple of months, which just doesn't happen with me
 
user228700
6:10 PM
@JohnRennie Why would it be 0.02?
 
bmi isn't an accurrate measure of tissue mass
 
@Mithrandir24601 what are those two pieces of thread hanging down from your shorts? Oh, silly me, they're your legs!
 
iq isnt an accurate measure of intelligence
rep isnt an accurate measure of physics ability
 
@Kaumudi.H isn't it $\sum m_i z_i^2$ ?
So we have 0.01M H^+ and 0.01M Cl- making I = 0.02 ...
 
To be fair you need a very high BMI to appreciate the Szechuan Sauce
 
user228700
6:12 PM
@JohnRennie Does this help?
 
@JohnRennie you've picked the least skinny part of me to mock :P
 
@JohnRennie I think it's 1/2 that
 
Balls, I forgot the factor of a half! Thanks :-)
Good job I'm not doing any exams :-)
 
@Mithrandir24601 raises an eyebrow
 
user228700
:-)
 
6:13 PM
u sure ur a chemistry phd
 
@ooolb I last did any chemistry in 1997!
( not 1997 factorial )
 
@ooolb no, but I really am weirdly light
 
user228700
@JohnR: I never noticed the song playing in the background until now! x'D What was this video for, again?
 
@BalarkaSen ?
 
Sid
@JohnRennie my BMI is 19. How badly in trouble am I?
 
user228700
6:15 PM
@ooolb Eyy, he remembers all his Thermodynamics! He is a God, how dare you! :-P
 
@Mithrandir24601 same
@JohnRennie i wasnt even born then!
is that weird or what
 
@Kaumudi.H Bernardo's comment there is gold
 
@ACuriousMind No, apparently. What do you mean exactly by "the multiple of $\pi$ after the $i$ geometrically denotes?"
 
I think I have found my future husband @Bernardo
 
I have to check it out...
 
6:17 PM
@Kaumudi.H I can't remember what the music was. Probably just something on the radio. The video was for Dell support, to explain the problem to them.
 
user228700
@BalarkaSen Absolutely! x'D
 
user228700
@JohnRennie Ah, right.
 
user228700
Is the radio always on?
 
Anonymous
@Mithrandir24601 Getting mocked for height is worse. I was the shortest guy in class all through middle school. Luckily in high school there was somebody shorter than me. :P
 
@Sid BMI of 19 is spot on. Keep up the good work.
 
Anonymous
6:18 PM
Now I guess I'm like 5 feet 5 inches (or 5 feet 4 inches)
 
user228700
I haven't imagined voices for any of you, which is why hearing @JohnR is exceptionally strange! :-P
 
@JohnRennie doesn't sound old
 
@Blue I'm sure it is - you don't tend to get mocked if you're thin
 
Sid
@JohnRennie He he he. I have been called skinny all my life
 
@Kaumudi.H I generally have the radio on when I'm at my desk.
 
user228700
6:19 PM
I see!
 
@Sid me too. It's weird because a BMI from 18 to 22 is considered normal.
I guess the average weight is now so high that normal weight people look skinny by contrast :-)
 
user228700
@JohnR: To be fair, if that picture is anything to go by, I wouldn't think skinny at all! Fit, rather.
 
all you see is his face
 
Sid
and I am not tall either. I am, like 170cms.
 
@Kaumudi.H The picture from Facebook?
If so I bet most people here now would say I was skinny
 
user228700
6:21 PM
@JohnRennie Yepp.
 
Now, can I find the picture ...
 
user228700
Here:
 
@PrathyushPoduval first of all, thanks for your hints and help so far!
 
user228700
 
why is that man dabbing
 
6:23 PM
dabbing before it was cool
 
why is that man hooded in a satanic prayer
what is going on
jesus christ save us
 
user228700
x'D
 
It was a board gaming group I briefly belonged to. They're all weirdos!
 
why is jr casually smiling while its all going on
 
that smile doesn't look natural to me
it looks forced and possessed
 
Sid
6:24 PM
JR seems to be scared out of his wits...
 
user228700
Lolololol x'D
 
@JohnRennie board gaming?
that's a thing?
 
user228700
What I was most amazed by, is the fact that he tucks in his T-Shirts and wears a belt, too!
 
@ooolb Yes, it's a big deal in the UK. The US too I think ...
 
user228700
@JohnR: I mean, come on :-P
 
6:26 PM
everything about that picture looks wrong to me
top 10 mysteries of all time
right after cicada 3301 and zodiac killer
 
@ooolb this sort of thing:
Carcassonne is a tile-based German-style board game for two to five players, designed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede and published in 2000 by Hans im Glück in German and by Rio Grande Games (until 2012) and Z-Man Games (currently) in English. It received the Spiel des Jahres and the Deutscher Spiele Preis awards in 2001. It is named after the medieval fortified town of Carcassonne in southern France, famed for its city walls. The game has spawned many expansions and spin-offs, and several PC, console and mobile versions. A new edition, with updated artwork on the tiles and the box, was released in 2014...
 
user228700
There is another one, too:
 
top 10 photos scientists haven't been able to explain
 
user228700
 
Anonymous
@Kaumudi.H Well, isn't that what skinny people do ? :P
 
6:27 PM
(not clickbait)
 
user228700
@Blue Ah, I guess so :-)
 
oh my god this is even more horrifying
look at that man's stare
 
Anonymous
JR's friends are pure hippies
 
look at that man's face
 
i love this
 
6:27 PM
Why am I always the normal one in these photos? :-)
 
Wtf is this
 
Sid
@Kaumudi.H What on earth?
 
send more
 
Why are you stalking JR?
 
Anonymous
@JohnRennie You look possessed! :'D
 
Sid
6:28 PM
One of those guys just became superman...
 
user228700
@0celo7 -.-
 
@0celo7 would you rather she stalked you?
 
Sid
A killer stare and another with a killer face... Good God. JR is around some dangerous people....
 
user228700
@ooolb Lol, I've uploaded the only two relatively recent photos of his from his Fb.
 
@ooolb no, why would I want that
@Kaumudi.H what?
 
user228700
6:30 PM
I'm not stalking him, I helped him find his picture, that's all.
 
Anonymous
The main use of Facebook is to stalk people, anyway
 
Hahah
Blue knows what's up
 
user228700
True!
 
That must be an Indian thing.
 
user228700
@0celo7 Ugh, not this again...
 
6:31 PM
indian english
@0celo7 r/indianpeoplefacebook
 
@JohnRennie halp!
My laptop's not shutting down
 
r/indianpeoplefacebook is a beautiful place
 
@JohnRennie I Have this game & ticket to ride... classics...
 
i love it
 
@PrathyushPoduval Windows 10?
 
6:34 PM
Yeah, the problem started after the creator's update
 
user228700
Ah, it contains this precious:
 
user228700
 
@PrathyushPoduval Does it hang showing the "shutting down" message?
 
@JohnRennie there's absolutely no response
 
@ooolb you’re way behind the power curve.
 
6:35 PM
Hi, everybody.
 
it's like the shutdown button is a button which does nothing
 
user228700
Hello :-)
 
why do i always feel like when i hold down the power button on my laptop i'm suffocating it with a pillow
 
@BalarkaSen in my mind it represents all of India
 
"dont worry itll all be over soon"
 
user228700
6:36 PM
x'D Same!
 
@PrathyushPoduval press Windows-R and in the Run dialog type cmd.exe and click OK. That should open a command prompt.
 
@0celo7 how so
 
@JohnRennie yes alright
done
 
@0celo7 no comments lol
 
@PrathyushPoduval Now type shutdown /s /t 0 and press Enter
 
6:36 PM
I can't publicly say it does
 
@JohnRennie A system shutdown is in progress.(1115)
 
@PrathyushPoduval OK, so it does shut down then ...
How are you trying to shut it down (and failing)?
 
i havent checked it out for a long time
dank
 
@JohnRennie windows button->the shut down logo-> shut down
the usual windows 10 way
I even tried pressing the power button, didn't work
it just turns back on again
 
@PrathyushPoduval ah, OK, you mean the shutdown command reported the error "a system shutdown is in progress"?
 
6:39 PM
@JohnRennie Yes
sorry for not making it clear :P
 
@ooolb beautiful
 
Hmm, some app is hanging while shutting down and preventing Windows from shutting down ...
 
@PrathyushPoduval Question regarding my problem. When you switch the variables in the Fourier series, you also have to change the variables in the $c_n$, but $c_n$ is an integral with variable $t$ and not $x$...
 
@PrathyushPoduval Has the laptop got a removable battery?
 
@nbro could you please wait, till i sort out m problem with JR (it should take only a few minutes I guess)
 
6:40 PM
@BalarkaSen wish i could be that slick
 
1
Q: Nested integral: volume of a right simplex

DanielSankConsider the integral $$I_n \equiv \int_{t_1=0}^T dt_1 \int_{t_2 = t_1}^T dt_2 \cdots \int_{t_n = t_{n-1}}^T dt_n \, .$$ I suspect the result should be $I_n = T^n/n!$ but would like to prove it. Doing the $n^\text{th}$ integral gives \begin{align} I_n &= \int_{t_1=0}^T dt_1 \cdots \int_{t_{n-1}=t...

@0celo7
 
@JohnRennie removable? the battery's inside the laptop....
if thats what you mean
 
@DanielSank Oh, so you know that's volume of right simplex already?
I told that to Bernardo earlier today
 
@DanielSank Bernardo asked me that
 
@PrathyushPoduval so you can't easily disconnect the battery?
 
6:42 PM
nope
 
i hate it when my laptop is inside the battery
 
What model is the laptop?
 
HP Pavillion
 
@BalarkaSen @BernardoMeurer did not credit you :-)
 
@PrathyushPoduval damn that's specific
 
6:42 PM
@0celo7 and?
 
@PrathyushPoduval which one? What model number? It's probably written on the base.
 
@ooolb wait till I find out the model number :P
 
Plagiarize! Let no one else's work evade your eyes!
 
Lehrer!
 
user228700
@Balarka:
 
6:43 PM
@PrathyushPoduval the suspense is unbearable
 
user228700
 
@PrathyushPoduval You can't switch the laptop by pressing the power button, is that your problem?
 
Schnoop Dawg
 
@JohnRennie It's not written on the base
 
@PrathyushPoduval hmm, OK, it doesn't really matter.
 
6:44 PM
@DanielSank Is it not just induction?
 
can we not share pics from that subreddit
i dont want it to become a thing
 
So if you press and hold the power button it does turn off, but it turns back on again?
 
@JohnRennie I got a serial number and a product number
@JohnRennie yes
 
@0celo7 I don't think so.
 
user228700
@ooolb Why not?
 
6:45 PM
Oh, because the variable shows up
 
@PrathyushPoduval ah, what's the product number?
 
@0celo7 Right.
 
@JohnRennie T0Z59PA#ACJ
 
@PrathyushPoduval An HP Pavilion 15-AB516TX ...
 
Yeah,I think so
 
6:47 PM
@DanielSank Well, my advice is to do induction to evaluate that integral :)
 
Thanks...
 
I’m in class
 
Do you know that you can configure the power button to make the PC restart instead of turning off??? That could be your problem...but is hard to guess without further details.
 
There may be some argument based on the fact that the hypercube has volume $T^n$.
 
On a phone. That’s all I’ve got for now
 
6:47 PM
Then maybe you can prove that $n!$ simplices fit into the cube.
...so the simplex volume is $T^n/n!$.
 
user228700
Gonna read some "Pride & Prejudice", then go to bed. Bye!
 
By the way, this is all because I'm trying to make sure I understand the Poisson distribution.
@Kaumudi.H that book is hilarious.
 
user228700
@DanielSank Yep! x'D
 
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a 2009 parody novel by Seth Grahame-Smith. It is a mashup combining Jane Austen's classic novel Pride and Prejudice (1813) with elements of modern zombie fiction, crediting Austen as co-author. It was first published in April 2009 by Quirk Books and in October 2009 a Deluxe Edition was released, containing full-color images and additional zombie scenes. The novel was adapted into a 2016 film starring Lily James and Sam Riley. == Background == Quirk Books editor, Jason Rekulak, developed the idea for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies after comparing a list ...
@Kaumudi.H
heheheheheh
 
@Kaumudi.H because
 
6:49 PM
@nbro it could be, but why should that stop the shut down button to stop responding?
 
@BalarkaSen ^
 
@PrathyushPoduval I would wipe the disk and do a clean install of Windows 10. Something has gone awry in the Fall update and it's likely to be hard to figure out exactly what. This sounds scary, but @Blue can tell you it's easier than you think.
 
user228700
@DanielSank Wow!
 
user228700
Maybe @JohnR could give it a read...
 
Why the !#&@ does Windows system management so *%(# often come down to "reinstall the OS"?
 
6:50 PM
@PrathyushPoduval but it stops responding when?
 
@JohnRennie Well, it does sound scary. I'll try doing it later next week after returning
 
user228700
@ooolb Well, I have lost some more faith in humanity.
 
How is the Windows community ok with this?
 
@nbro when i click on it
 
6:51 PM
@0celo7 Yeah I just noticed that.
That more or less solves it. It would be more satisfying to explicitly solve the integral, but I'll take what I can get :-)
 
@PrathyushPoduval if you want I can talk you through it. You'll need a 4GB or bigger USB drive for the install files, and you'll need to copy any data you have on the laptop because we'll be doing a complete wipe of it.
 
even all the partitions?
 
idek how that's not ironic
 
@JohnRennie I'll return to you next week, since I'm going to to bangalore tomorrow
 
@PrathyushPoduval If you want a stable installation of Windows the best bet is always to completely wipe the disk including all partitions then do a nice clean install.
 
6:53 PM
@DanielSank well my answer isn’t all that sarcastic: you have to do more induction
But I’m sure the wiki answer is much cleaner.
 
@JohnRennie Thats sad :'(, I have a lot of stuff to save
 
On the other hand doing it properly now will stand you in good stead for years to come.
 
@0celo7 The wiki answer is pretty clean. The cube is $n!$ simplices. Done.
 
Mhm
 
@JohnRennie Until MS releases another borked update, like what they did that f'd up my laptop.
 
6:54 PM
@PrathyushPoduval I also strongly suggest you take the opportunity to swap the disk for an SSD if funds permit.
 
what are the advantages of it?
 
@PrathyushPoduval ask @Blue - SSDs are amazingly fast. It's the single best upgrade you can do on your laptop. But they are expensive.
 
Doesn't SSD have a smaller storage size?
I can get a portable hard disk though
 
Anonymous
@DanielSank Did you have a look at this and this?
 
You can buy big SSDs, but they are scarily expensive. A 1TB SSD is about £300 in the UK. But do you really need that much disk space?
 
6:57 PM
shit. thats high
 
Anonymous
The integration problem is interesting but I didn't get time to sit down and solve it. Pretty sure it's just some induction arguments
 
@PrathyushPoduval Yes, but few people need anything like that much space.
 
@JohnRennie that seems cheap
 
In most cases a 256GB SSD is fine.
 
:41538437 I think I'll do the replacing next year since I don't want to void the warranty
 
6:58 PM
Mine was $250 for 1/2TB
 
I have a 220gb ssd, but they used 60gb of it as a swap space...
 
@Blue I saw the second one (the pdf). It looks interesting and I should study it. The bad copy quality scared me off.
 
@JohnRennie The things I need space for is just TV shows , movies and books and can be stored in a Portable HD
 
@DanielSank The idea for an explicit solution, I believe, should be to use Fubini. Consider $\int_0^T dx \int_x^T dy$. That is the iterated integral obtained from slicing the right triangle $\{y \geq x, 0 \leq y \leq T, 0 \leq x \leq T\}$ by lines $x = x_0$ for $x_0 \in [0, T]$. Now change the slicing to $y = y_0$ for $y_0 \in [0, T]$. Integral becomes $\int_0^T dy \int_0^y dx$. That's just $\int_0^T dy (y^2/2) = T^2/2$
 
7:00 PM
@JohnRennie SanDisk?
 
I can't believe I am using physicists's notation for integrals
 
@0celo7 I think SanDisk have the best price-performance tradeoff right now. Yes if you want a 1TB 860 Evo you'll be paying a lot more, but ina laptop like Prathyush's it would be a waste.
 
Anonymous
@BalarkaSen Yeah, that's the geometric argument I was thinking of, too. However, for higher dimensions the way to go is induction
 
@BalarkaSen Why $$\int_0^T dy \int_0^y dx = \int_0^T dy(y^2/2) \, ?$$
 
$\int_0^y dx = y$
 
7:02 PM
@BalarkaSen wat
 
Ugh, I mean $y$
Fuck
 
Yeah but you get $\int_0^T dy \, y$
That's $T^2/2$
 
Anyway, yeah I can compute the $n=2$ case, but the question is how to do $n$ arbitrary.
 
@JohnRennie I’m not convinced the 860 Evo is worth it in a computer like mine either
The processor is much slower than the SSD
And I have a good processor
 
7:03 PM
Sure, but my point is, this should be the general tactics @DanielSank. You change the slicing of the right simplex to change the order of the interated integrals
 
Actually I have a 960 Evo
 
@JohnRennie will going back to the previous version of windows help?
 
@PrathyushPoduval you could try ...
 
The problem is that HP load up their laptops with all sorts of extra crap so it wasn't a clean install of Win10 to begin with.
 
7:04 PM
@BalarkaSen why does putting the variables in the upper integration limit help?
 
The advantage of my suggestion is that you get a nice clean standard Win10 install free from any extra junk that could cause you problems later. I always do clean installs on my computers, never the install supplied by the manufacturer.
 
@DanielSank So Fubini gives you that $\int_0^T dt_1 \int_{t_1}^T dt_2 \cdots \int_{t_{n-1}}^T dt_n$ is $\int_0^T dt_1 \int_0^{t_1} dt_2 \cdots \int_0^{t_{n-1}} dt_n$.
Now just start evaluating from the innermost integral in the iteration and it easily pans out to be $T^n/n!$
 
Anonymous
@DanielSank If you could convert the limits to $\int_{0}^{T}dt_1\int_{0}^{t_1}dt_2\int_{0}^{t_2}dt_3...\int_{0}^{t_{n-1}}dt_n$, that immediately gives the answer. (Using Fubini's)
 
Great minds think alike
But greater minds type faster!
 
Anonymous
lel
 
Anonymous
7:16 PM
I was busy doing something else XD
 
@BalarkaSen I'm skeptical. Thinking...
 
Mmkay. It's enlightening to do the computation for the right 3-simplex in $\Bbb R^3$
 
Anonymous
It's just changing the order of integration. Try to think geometrically at least upto 3 dimensions...
 
Anonymous
Duh, again ninja'd
 
Anonymous
I hate you
 
7:17 PM
lol
 
Anonymous
:P
 
Anonymous
(Well, after all it was you who taught me this stuff...so you deserve the credit anyway :))
 
Nah
It's actually a fun trick. I don't remember teaching you this
Was it the $\int_0^1 \int_y^1 \sin(x)/x \, dx dy$ thing?
That's where I learnt how to do it
 
Anonymous
Yup, we were doing similar stuff one day in the no normie room
 
Gotcha
 
7:35 PM
I now understand the Poisson distribution!
It is uniquely defined by the statement that you have a probability per unit time of a thing happening.
Then you ask, what is the probability of that thing happening $n$ times in a given finite time interval.
The Poisson distribution comes out (but you need to know the volume of a right $n$-simplex).
And now, a self-answered post!
 
7:57 PM
Wait just a darn minute...
Suppose we have a probability per unit time $\lambda$ that some event happens.
Let's compute the probability distribution of the time until an even happens.
Consider a time interval $dt$. The probability that no even happens is $(1 - \lambda dt)$.
The probability that no even happens after $N$ such time intervals is $$(1 - \lambda dt)^N \, .$$
Now call $N dt = T$.
Then the probability that no event happens after time $T$ is $$\left( 1 - \frac{\lambda T}{N} \right)^N \, .$$
As $N \rightarrow \infty$ this becomes $$\exp(-\lambda T) \, . $$
This is the well known result for exponential decay, which tells you the probability that your system survives for time $T$ and then decays at time $T$, but I never stipulated that the system decays at time $T$.
I think I'm confusing myself, but I'm not sure how.
 
Anonymous
2 mins ago, by DanielSank
Consider a time interval $dt$. The probability that no even happens is $(1 - \lambda dt)$.
 
Anonymous
Here
 
Anonymous
Probability that no event happens in what interval of time ?!
 
@Blue The interval there is $dt$.
$\lambda$ is the probability per unit time of the event happening.
 
shouldn't it be $(1-\lambda)dt$ then
 
Anonymous
8:02 PM
@DanielSank Sure. But what is $1$ ? Shouldn't the probability of no event happening in time $dt$ be $(1-\lambda)dt$ ?
 
@Blue Ah, perhaps that's right!
 
0
Q: Wax gear-chain and diamagnetic levitation

alan2hereGear chains are limited when turned on one end by static friction as the chain reaches a point where the teeth of the gears will break before enough force is applied to overcome static friction. Some materials, including materials with high dynamic friction, have extremely low static friction. I...

I posted it there, but maybe it's better for here.
 
@Blue No that's definitely wrong. It has the wrong dimensions!
 
Anonymous
8:22 PM
Umm, wait. You said $\lambda$ is probability per unit time. That's confusing terminology :P Call it decay constant instead.
 
Anonymous
4
Q: Showing that $\lambda$ is the probability per unit time that one particle will decay in 1 second

bnosnehpetsMy textbook says that $\lambda$ is the probability per unit time that 1 particle will decay in one second. This makes absolutely no sense to me - I can see that it is related to probability but cannot see how it is the probability. We have: $$N = N_0 e^{-\lambda t} \tag A$$ Now, if the probabilit...

 
Anonymous
I know a good explanation for this which I can dig up tomorrow if you wish. Gotta go now
 
If a particle is falling in a gravitational field, does it convert some of its mass to kinetic energy?
My crank physics says it should, I just don't know if it is correct.
And considering an experiment with three polarized columns going into orbital space, if you had a matter generator at the top, and dropped electrons down one column, positrons down another, collected the kinetic energy at the bottom, and then let them annihilate, sending the energy back up the third column as light, it seems like otherwise you'd violate conservation of energy (ignoring entropy for thought experiment purposes).
 
8:40 PM
Why define an analogue of $\gamma_5$ in higher dimensions
 
8:54 PM
@Adirian Potential energies are associated with interaction not with objects. Despite our casual usage, the particle doesn't have a potential energy. The system of particle and large mass has a potential energy.
Now, if you let the particle fall freely the potential energy is converted in to kinetic energy (mostly for the particle, but a tiny bit for the large mass) and the system's total energy (and mass) remain as they were.
If you lower the particle gently on a string then the system loses energy (and mass) and the excess energy is transferred to the lowering mechanism.
 

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